The present invention concerns a novel securing nut.
Securing or clamping nuts are characterized in that they have a securement or a mechanism to prevent loosening on the bolt, on the shaft, the screw, etc., or to prevent them from getting lost. For example, a plastic ring can be provided on the nut body to prevent it from getting lost. Another familiar form of securement consists in a thread formation, which can be made by conventional fabrication methods known to the practitioner. The plastic ring should not be too narrow or the thread too large, or else the nut can no longer be screwed onto the bolt. Thus, although the securement is reversible, the force which can be applied is limited, so that strong vibration can result in loosening of the nut on the bolt. Another known nut has a slotted neck with an outer thread, on which a straining ring can be screwed. However, such a nut is costly and difficult to fabricate. Another solution calls for having a collar on the thread of the nut and a corresponding groove on the bolt, the shaft, screw, etc., so that when screwing on the nut the collar is forced into the groove. Although this connection is stable, it can no longer be separated, and is thus irreversible. Furthermore, it is costly to fabricate the parts with collar and groove.
A special solution of the problem that is known in the prior art is a wheel securement nut that is slotted in the axial direction, having a continuous screw perpendicular to the slot. Thus, the nut can be screwed on without seizing and then be secured by tightening the screw. But also this special fabrication is costly and troublesome.
Moreover, the so-called “circular spline technique” is in the prior art, as is known, for example, from DE 4,231,320 C2 and DE 196 33,541 C2.
DE 4,231,320 C2 discloses a device for the detachable joining of at least two objects, by means of a (for example) one-piece pin on the first object and a receptacle on the second object, which can be a spline-profile nut. The pin has radially projecting cams in the circumferential direction in the form of spline profiles, while the receptacle has corresponding grooves in the form of spline profiles. The back surfaces of the cams and the hollow surfaces of the grooves basically follow the trend of a logarithmic spiral in relation to their axis. Between cams and grooves a gap is provided for the pin to fit into the receptacle.
DE 196 33,541 C2 concerns a shaft-hub connection, especially in the form of a bolt and a nut which cooperates with it. Spline surfaces radially increasing in the circumferential direction are provided on the outer circumferential surface of the shaft and the inner circumferential surface of the hub. After shaft and hub are joined together, spline surfaces with the same gradient lie opposite each other. Furthermore, elevations and recesses are provided between shaft and hub to achieve a form-fitting axial securement.